In the midst of death
by SJ Howitt
Summary: What exactly is it that makes the MCRT different?
1. 1979-1995

**In the midst of death**

What exactly is it that is different about the MCRT?

Disclaimer:All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

_Rating K+_

_Triggers; Vampires_

_I do not own, yadda yadda yadda, only the story is mine._

_you may remember Tim, as Thom E Gemcity, telling the team about free writing to free writers block, well heres my attempt. _

_Hope you enjoy._

_SJxxx_

Gibbs' team was well known throughout NCIS, the MCRT a close knit family, impossible to breach. The dynamic was stable and worked, over the years they'd seen their share of tragedy and loss, what family hadn't, but for the younger Agents working out of the Navy Yard they seemed like a permanent fixture, not just the younger agents.

The original leader of the MCRT had been Mike Franks, a Marine Conscript out of Vietnam, he had stumbled into the NIS office in San Diego covered in blood, with horrendous injuries, carrying the corpse of a murdered Marine. His black cold eyes, and pursuit of the killer had made a lasting impression on the office head. He'd immediately taken to Mike and sent him to Pletsy for his three month Federal Agent training. Mike had quickly formed a clique around him on returning to San Diego he was given control of two younger Agents who had never seen combat.

Within 5 years Franks headed a full team, proud he'd never lost a member. They worked in the darkest, most gruesome areas of Naval Crime, took on cases nobody would ever have solved and brought the perpetrators to justice. They often worked outside the NIS rules, and worked on a set that Franks himself worked to. After 7 years, it was suggested that maybe the team should be split, maybe 7 years working together was too long, maybe a close knit of this kind wasn't healthy for law enforcement. The Human Resources Director of NIS went missing the next day, good natured finger pointing suggested that the MCRT had something to do with it. The whole incident was quickly forgotten, but dark black eyes of the four members of the MRCT clocked those who pointed fingers, and within 3 years not a member of that unfortunate group remained.

In February 1991 disaster happened, one of the team had been tasked with protection of two Marine Dependants from Camp Pendleton. The drug cartel who was the focus of the case murdered the Agent and the dependents. Mike felt the blow physically, his team contracted and what was worse, the agency wouldn't let him pursue the killers. The Marine whose grief was shared with Mike came to the Office 2 months later, he'd been injured in Dessert storm and still walked with a limp. Mikes cold calculating eyes weighed up Gunnery Sergeant LJ Gibbs, a strong man, a sad one, a Marine Sniper, clever and cold. Mike made a snap decision the day the man walked into his office. He gave the man details of his wife's killer, and told him if he ever needed anything let him know.

Gibbs took the folder, killed Pedro Hernandez, then took his truck to a beach near San Diego, he phoned Mike just before that last journey and told him it was over for them both. The man that Gibbs lost was avenged, and he was going to meet his wife and daughter. Gibbs sat on the rocks, staring out at sea remembering the time a year earlier when he'd sat there with Kelly and Shannon. He drank a full bottle of bourbon, then as the sun went down, turned his side arm to his own head and pulled the trigger.

By the time Mike got there, Gibbs was still alive, but fading fast. The bullet had ricochet off the big Marines skull causing an ugly burnt gash but not a fatal wound. The Sergeant was dying of blood loss, having laid down in physical and mental pain letting his life bleed into the sand.

"For Christ's sake Gunny" Mike chided.

The Marine couldn't speak, his eyes were fixed on the faded horizon, as if his girls were there just waiting for him. Mike swore as he felt the heart beat stop, pulling the man up to his lips he bared long sharp fangs and bit deeply into the Marines neck.

When NCIS moved to their new home in DC, it felt like a new start for the MCRT, questions had been asked once again about the closeness of the team, about their Cowboy-esque approach to crime. The move to Washington was aimed at putting them directly under the control of Director NCIS. For Gibbs it meant women. Since his turning he'd had some lovers from a select group of ex-whores and Vamps Mike had introduced him to, now he could hunt for them on his own. Although Mike was very strict on who they could kill, Gibbs realised he could use his supernatural powers to find suitable mates. He heard the women's thoughts, he could smell their blood, knowing if they were clean, fertile or even pregnant. He gained a reputation as a player, and for a young single man it was the perfect life, until he met Dianne.

She smelt heady, it took all the will power he had not to drink her dry the first night. Love sick he had trouble working, trouble chasing down the killers who were his prey. Finally Mike told him to turn her, it was the only thing he claimed to solve the problem. Gibbs took Dianne out to a hut in the woods, the team used as a safe house, they made love for hours, but when Gibbs had her lying sated on his chest her neck deliciously exposed he found he had no desire to kill her. Instead in a moment of madness and weakness, he proposed, and she utterly in his thrall his willing victim of moment earlier, immediately agreed. Mike went from livid to amused, at least it meant the lovesick probie could concentrate on his job again.

When Gibbs came back from a compulsory 6 month tour as Agent Afloat, he came home to find Dianne 2 months pregnant. As a vampire, even if he's been there he knew he couldn't have been the father. Dianne told him she'd fallen in love with an FBI Agent, and she was leaving him. Gibbs left the room in disgust and locked himself in the basement, he went and did something he hadn't considered doing since he'd died, he went and started a wooden project. Something but the danger of a vampire working with wooden stakes appealed to his self-destructive nature.

Ginger was his divorce lawyer, Dr Mallard had introduced them. Ducky had come to NCIS on the pursuit of Mike Franks, the RAMC themselves having had their own vampire troubles over the years had set up a group of hunters. Vampires haunted battle fields, and soldiers were always vulnerable to the seduction of eternal life. However he had found amusement in the fact that the MCRT would only eat violent criminals, that their primary motivator was justice. He'd stayed with them as their medical examiner. Ginger had come from a line of hunters and slayers, she found Gibbs intoxicatingly dangerous. Within weeks of the Degree Absolute, she became Mrs Gibbs number 3.

Unlike his life with Dianne, Gibbs didn't have to pretend to be human, the life before he died was of no interest or consequence to his new wife, or their new acquaintances. He could utterly forget who he was, until the Kyle Boone case. He hunted Boone, relentlessly, night and day. When he came home he couldn't shut it off, the Daemon inside pushed him and plagued him, he fought hard but the beast was overpowering, its blood lust so strong his calm blue eyes turned as black as Franks'. One night he came home, hot and desperate, Ginger had been asleep in bed and awoke to find herself pinned down, the creature that was her husband looming above her teeth bared. A slayer by nature she kept a small bottle of holy water by the bed, and managed to grab it. Throwing it in his face, she grabbed the next thing she found, a golf club and battered him repeatedly.


	2. 1996-2000

In 1996, Mike retired, he'd had enough of the hell of NCIS politics years before, he would rather kill his enemies swiftly and with prejudice than prosecute them fully, but he'd spent years forcing that part of himself down to protect his team and keep the together. Then came the Khobar towers and he couldn't hold back anymore. The failures' of the DSS and CIA grated at him. He'd gone to Gibbs early in July and told him he would have to leave DC or he was going to be responsible for an utter slaughter. Gibbs understood the failures' had directly led to the deaths of 19 servicemen, and nobody was going to pay. However Gibbs couldn't retire, he needed NCIS to stave blood lust, and he needed the hunt and the prey. Mike explained the blood lust would calm eventually and then he could get by with caffeine, but for the moment if he wanted to keep the beast at bay, he had to keep working. Whenever he felt the beast rise, he feel the back of his head, the memory of Ginger's golf club splitting his skull would remain with him.

Gibb's started working directly for Special Agent Riley McAllister, a man who seemed to use NCIS as his own private spy network. In the next year Gibbs found himself on repeated undercover missions, which suited him well, black ops meant no need to recover a body, no need to hide injuries. It also however caused the deaths of the others of Mike's original team, Gibbs felt there loss in the blood, and it spurred him on. Then he was assigned Jenny Shepherd she as young, and ambitious and the best human partner Gibbs had been given since being turned. She was curious about his skills though, his super human powers became obvious when running reconnaissance, and she couldn't help but notice that despite her partner being a sniper, their Marks tended to die in a more close quarter attack.

Finally they were pinned down in an attic in Marseille, with no way out, except a hail of bullets, they had no chance of escape, and no way to signal for extraction. Gibbs new he would survive any attack, the men hunting them were human and fallible armed only with semi-automatic weaponry, but Jenny would be killed, she looked at him and shrugged.

"I know what you are" she told him "and I'm not afraid to die".

He looked at her "How? How do you know?"

"My father, he was killed by a Vampire" she shrugged "Gibbs I don't want to die in a hail of bullets"

"You'd prefer to die at my hands?" he asked her.

"You can turn me can't you?" she asked "We'll both get out of here if you do?"

"It'll hurt" he warned her.

"But I'll live?"

"No, you'll be like me, you'll need blood to live, and the person you were will be dead, your body will be claimed by a Daemon, it's not an easy option."

"Can you smell my blood?" she asked, dropping her voice an octave, "do you know how I want you?"

"You'll be dead, you'll never be able to have children, to grow old, and most likely one day some hunter will slay you." He backed away from her, as the monster inside him stirred.

"Please Gibbs" she begged "I'll be a better agent, faster, stronger…" she'd stepped one step to close and he interrupted her with a strong passionate kiss. He growled and ripped at her shirt and cargo pants, having her naked beside him in seconds, he'd never let the beast attack like this before, it was freeing, it was what it wanted. "Gibbs?" she panted and questioned.

"Are you sure this is what you want Shepherd?" he growled again "you want to be like me?" She looked into his eyes they'd gone black and sparkled, the hypnotic stare had her trapped.

"Will it hurt?" she begged quietly.

The human part of Gibbs brain kicked in at her pitiful voice, "Jenny, if you let me take you first, I promise it won't hurt" he told her.

She looked up and found his eyes were blue again, it was impossible not to trust those eyes, "OK" she nodded, closing her eyes and let him drop her gently on the floor.

Jenny and Gibbs travelled across Europe after that, two vampires working together made tracking easier, their assassination rate increased, as lovers they could share their kills, it worked perfectly, until Paris. Traditionally a Vampire is always in thrall to their Sire, and at first Jenny was entirely Gibbs property, to do with as he wished, when he wished. However she was still the ambitious woman she'd been as a human, she wanted new challengers, and new partners, she also wanted her own thrall. Gibbs had taught her everything he knew, and in turned passed on information about Hunters and Slayers, the primal urge to keep his mate safe. In doing that he'd explained Ducky's role at NCIS, and so that was who she turned too when she wanted out.

Gibbs was surprised when Ducky arrived in Paris, but greeted his old friend, the man they were chasing down had a Gendarme accomplice. Gibbs killed the Mark, and Ducky in a moment of relived youth pushed the Gendarme 30ft into a lake. They ended up on the run, and Jenny who was acting as control, couldn't save them from the law. Gibbs was livid and betrayed, Ducky was worried for his friend. The day of their court hearing however, Gibbs felt Jenny close, coming out of the jail, he looked across the road to the river finding a boat moored as close as possible. His eyes narrowed and he saw her standing hands on hips waiting. Grabbing Ducky's bound wrist Gibbs fought the Gendarmes around them, he ran across to his mate, dragging the older man with him. While the chaos continued, they made their escape.

The next evening they boarded a plane, while Ducky slept Jenny and Gibbs made love over and over. Laughing at their escape, Gibbs loving her company, the taste of her blood, the feeling of completely trusting his partner. When the plane landed in Schiphol, Jenny left to fill out some paperwork, Ducky and Jethro still laughing about the Gendarmes face when Ducky pushed them. After a while the plane started to taxi Gibbs looked around for Jenny and Ducky grabbed his arm. "She's gone Jethro" he told him

"What?"

"She's left, she's taken a mission in the Middle East"

"Her coat?" Gibbs showed the man Jenny's brown overcoat still lying on her chair "She left?"

Three weeks later Gibbs met Stephanie Flynn, he was being sent to Moscow and McAllister had asked him to find a wife as cover. Initially Gibbs had considered trawling the Vamp bars, then he'd met her. She was desperate for adventure for travel, she didn't know what he was, and unlike with Dianne, where he'd fought to hide his nature, this time his blood lust was somewhat sated. He became addicted to coffee instead. Sadly however after their hurried wedding ceremony and relocation to Moscow, Gibbs realised the mistake he'd make. She wanted children, it was all she'd talk about. He disappeared into his mission, spent very little time at home, and slept his way through the Vamp population of Moscow. It was there he met a Vampire called G Callen, he couldn't remember his mortal life, he couldn't remember being turned, and the CIA was using him to run Ops because he was good and fast. Gibbs explained to him there was a better life, a safer life, hiding his nature away with a close knit team. He told G of the clan Mike had built up, his desire to have his own. They ran an op through Moscow and Eastern Europe ending in Serbia, in a massive shoot out. Callen realised Gibbs was right, the CIA didn't care for him. They parted in Belgrade, Callen promising to leave the CIA, Gibbs promising to put in a good word with the Director NCIS. He'd been gone 8 weeks, when he returned Stephanie shouted at him for a good hour he'd missed several fertility appointments, in the end he shouted he was infertile. 4 weeks later he was living back in DC, awaiting his third divorce.


	3. 2000-2002

**Hi guys thanks for the reviews this chapter is a little bit shorter than it could be because I'm going away tomorrow, and I wanted to give you something before I did :D**

Stan Burley was a good Agent, but Gibbs had no desire to turn him. He'd thought about when Burley became a permanent fixture on his radar, Gibbs didn't really like working with humans, they were slow and that was dangerous. Gibbs had been planning to get rid of Burley, suggest him as an Agent Afloat, until Stephanie had tracked him down. He'd been coming home from work and was surprised to see her standing in front of the house. He wasn't defensive, he wasn't feeling threatened just annoyed. He'd turned his back on her when he felt the blow, on a mortal it would have killed, on him it shattered his skull and put him down on the ground. He was tempted to turn and kill her, but he thought better of it, he played dead probably more effectively than anyone else could have done. He stopped breathing, and laid still, he heard her shriek and drop the metal baseball bat. He continued to lay there until he heard her get into her car and drive off.

He raised himself up, and took two shuddering breaths. He needed coffee, he shook his head and felt the crater there, he needed coffee and damn it he needed Ducky. He drove to NCIS, phoning Ducky on the way and asking for medical help. When he walked into autopsy he saw the anthill, it had been delivered to them the morning before, and now it was a wriggling mass of dirt and bugs.

"Is that safe Duck?" Gibbs asked pointing to the hill.

"No worse than a vampire with his head smashed in" The ME reminded him, starting to patch his head up.

The two men turned sharply when the elevator doors pinged, followed by the double autopsy doors. Burley rushed in covered in blood carrying a thin girl in his arms. Gibbs growled, and Ducky wondered briefly if it was all the blood, before he looked closely at the girl in Burleys arms. Her long black hair, black make-up white skin and long talons. Her face was turned towards them and her fangs were visible.

"Stan?" Gibbs growled head wound forgotten he stalked towards the man holding the fallen Vampire, the girl looked about 16, but smelt of caffeine, she was at least a ten year Vamp.

Burley stared at his boss, as the older man's teeth elongated, his eyes flashed black, he stepped back "I didn't hurt her Gibbs" Burley told him "you can put the Daemon back in its box" Gibbs was taken aback, he was about to ask how when Stan bravely interrupted "her name is Abby, she's a clean Vamp, she works at Metro as a forensic assistant, I got a call from her about an hour ago saying she was being hunted, when I got to her place" he stopped at looked at the Slayer and the Vamp, "look I've known for ages about you both, I was hoping Doctor Mallard could patch her up"

Gibbs stepped away from the table and gestured that Burley should put the girl down. "Who attacked her?" Gibbs growled. The girl may be a Vamp but he could smell she wasn't an active feeder, she was harmless, whoever attacked her was vicious and didn't care how much hurt they could inflict.

"Slayers" he shrugged "There's a number of roving gangs in DC these days".

It had taken over a week for Ducky to patch Abby up, even with copious amounts of coffee and even plasma, and the supernatural healing of a vampire she'd been a mess. Stan had explained that he'd come from a line of hunters and slayers, but when he'd been a child his parents had been killed. A Vampire clan head had taken him in, protected him, and raised him. He had no fear of Vamps, but a hatred of slayers. Their single pursuit of soft targets at the expense of letting the harder to kill, the mean, the nasty, the vicious go free.

Gibbs had Abby fill out an application for NCIS, they were such a small agency, they'd never had a real Forensic expert before, let alone one who was so casual about renumeration, as suspected they snapped her up. She in turn introduced a fellow clean Vamp to Ducky, who received a new Assistant in the form of Gerald Jackson.

They worked like that for a year, until Gibbs asked Burley to become a Vampire. The younger man had realised why his boss had asked, but it wasn't what he wanted, he wanted kids a family, being a vampire wasn't what he wanted. He'd gently refused, and knowing it was an affective end to his employment under Gibbs, asked to be reassigned. The day he left for the SeaHawk Abby had sobbed, Gibbs had smiled and shook the younger man's hand. They were going to miss Stan, but in Gibbs mind it meant he could create his own team.

He'd been working a case in Baltimore, a drugs pusher had infiltrated a Navy base, the trail had led to Maryland and Gibbs undercover had been caught out by a Young Detective called Anthony DiNozzo. He'd let the young man "run him in" and even broke his cover to explain he was a Fed, tracking down a lead. Tony had been amused and clearly fascinated by the tall man with the stark blue eyes. So when Gibbs had asked him to come with him to track down the pusher he'd readily agreed.

Gibbs had liked Tony, he reminded him of himself, and had been wondering how to get the man to agree to work for him, when the man had shocked him. "You know you look a bit like the vampire of my nightmares" tony had told him.

"You have Vampire nightmares?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah" Tony shrugged "doesn't everyone?"

Gibbs laughed "so you're scared of vampires then?"

Tony looked round, "well I wouldn't say scared just…"

He was cut off by the sound of Automatic weapons, the two man ran towards the sound and turned a corner into hell. Their suspect was engaged in pitched battle and Gibbs stepped forward "NCIS CEASEFIRE" He shouted stepping into the battle.

"GIBBS!" Tony shouted following the man into searing firepower.

Gibbs had walked without damage, DiNozzo was hit several times over, lying in a crumpled heap of blood and pain. Watching the young man fall, Gibbs transformed into his Daemon form, huge and black he fell upon hi suspect immediately ripping the man's throat out and drinking him dry.

He turned to the young cop, bleeding his life away onto the pavement, "You still scared of Vampires DiNozzo?" he asked, he face covered in blood, his eyes black with blood lust.

The man looked up and smirked "You gonna kill me?" he asked the Vampire hovering above him.

"You're dying Detective, I can make sure that never happens?"

"What do you want from me in return?" The man gasped, pain running through him in spasms.

"You're agreement to work for me"

"That all" the dying man smirked "sure" he closed his eyes expecting to die a horrible death.

Tony woke up with a start, his mind whirring with new scents and sounds, finding Gibbs sat beside him he started forwards, "Am I dead?" he asked.

"Yeah" Gibbs smirked "so Anthony DiNozzo, you ready to come and work for me?"

"Sure boss".


End file.
